“Not a 9 to 5 job, but one that I find totally satisfying”

7am
After his early morning tour of the storage depot, Büsching writes his daily report. He records the current storage capacity. He specifies the quantity of goods that has been loaded and dispatched in the last 24 hours. Then it’s also time for the early morning meeting in which he gets an update from the shift supervisors, operations managers and skilled operatives. Is production going to plan? Is the team currently fully staffed or are some people sick? He then gets stuck into the real work of the day.

8.30am
The target today is to dispatch 120 tonnes of corrugated board sheets. To help his colleagues with loading, Büsching jumps in the forklift truck himself. But first he checks the corrugated board sheets very carefully – performing quality checks is another one of his tasks. Only products that are 100% intact may leave the warehouse.

Short lunch break
He then resumes work with renewed energy. In between times he makes a phone call to Group Office in Landau in which he provides an update on the status of the scheduled deliveries to be dispatched. “I must ensure that the logistics processes link together smoothly. This is not always easy. All it needs is for one machine to stutter and all the processes then get backed up,” he says. For production operates with three shifts on a just-in-time basis. This means if a customer places an order today, they will receive their delivery no later than the day after tomorrow. This demands precise working. “But this is also what makes my job so exciting. The main thing is that we can rely on one another here. We have a top team and we’ve managed to overcome every challenge – and celebrate plenty of successes,” he says with pride. For example, production records. When a plant achieves particular success in production, Progroup rewards this performance.

Büsching also reflects on his career with great pride. A carpenter by trade, he joined the company as a forklift driver in 2016. Nine months later, he applied for the role of deputy dispatch manager and got the job. After another two years, he was promoted to his current position. He continued to educate himself and is now able to train employees to become operators of industrial trucks and lifting platforms. “This is what I really like about Progroup. You get challenged and supported. There are plenty of opportunities to train and develop. Then there is also the financial security: My job is crisis-proof, as the coronavirus crisis once again demonstrated,” says Büsching. And the future looks very promising too: The corrugated board market looks set to continue growing. “I have a job that I find totally satisfying, and an employer that I would like to carry on working for until I retire,” he says in summary. But for now, the working day is finished.

3pm
Time to finish work and enjoy a well-earned rest.

Addendum
Speaking of being challenged and promoted: In the meantime, Ingo Büsching is no longer dispatch manager, but has developed into production manager.